Allen Excited for Obama’s Visit, Would Consider Politics

WALTHAM — In January Ray Allen traveled to Washington, D.C. to watch President Barack Obama’s inauguration in person. Now he would welcome the opportunity to meet him a little closer to home.

Obama is scheduled to visit Boston this Friday, October 23, to attend a luncheon for Governor Deval Patrick’s re-election campaign. Although Allen was unaware of the event, he was enthusiastic upon hearing the news.

‘I’d be pumped to meet him, just to sit down and have a conversation with him, just to talk to him,’ Allen told WEEI.com following practice on Saturday. ‘I think that we get so consumed with what’s going on in our lives. I have a saying, and I’m sure that other people use it, but never judge a man before you walk a mile in his shoes, and then once you get a mile away you can say whatever you want. And that’s kind of how it is. You watch somebody from afar, I think you see people’s jobs unfold. Like people criticize us for what we do, what we don’t do on the floor.

‘It’s always interesting to sit down and talk to somebody in the position of power that is passing legislation. Whether it’s five minutes or ten minutes, you really get an inside take or feel of how that person thinks or how that person operates. So I think anybody who sat down with me or any of the other guys on the team, they are always interested even more and they want to watch the game even more because you start to see different things and you understand how the game is played. It’s a little bit more difficult than it may look from the surface, and I definitely believe that’s the Presidential office. That’s probably the hardest job in this country. At the same time it’s the highest position that anybody could reach, it’s like the ultimate sign of success. But at the same time, who wants the job because you’ve got so much coming down on you? So I’d be interested in meeting him, whether it’s five minutes or ten minutes, just to have a conversation with him.’

Allen already knows his opening line if he ever met the President. After that, he would find it easy to relate Obama’s position in politics to his own role in professional sports.

“I think that I would ask him about his hoop game because I heard that he played a lot,” he said. “And then it would depend on how much time I would have with him. If I had five seconds, I would say how’s the hoop game? If I knew I had like 20, 25 minutes with him I would probably ask him a lot about just how he does it and how he holds it in. I know how I hold my position in and what I do. Somebody said something interesting today about America. We were talking about when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, Doc [Rivers] actually said this to me. We were talking about all the people who were criticizing him and it would be like if Doc won Coach of the Year and I said, ‘Why did he get it? He didn’t deserve it.’ He’s on my team, I want him to get all the awards that he should get. And that’s the same thing when he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Doc said, we were talking about it, ‘Unfortunately everybody in America’s not on the same team.’ And that’s the unfortunate thing.”

Allen could see himself getting involved in politics after he retires from basketball. Even though he may be a veteran in the NBA, he understands he would be a rookie in the political world.

“I would consider it,” he said. “Obviously I think I have a lot to learn about the economy, not just the American economy but the overseas economy as well. I’d need to make sure that I went to more than just Mexico and Canada (laughs). I’ve been overseas a couple of places but I’d have to extend my travel. You have to see the world, you have to understand people around the world. You can’t just be from one place and try to rule over everyone.”